Give More To Special Forces

Finding Terrorists And Preventing Suicide Attacks Depends Chiefly On Undercover Work By Police And Intelligence Agents --- Not On Military Forces.

September 19, 2005|By David Gompert

As the debate over the best strategy for the next phase in confronting global terrorism heats up, it should include a hard look at the role of military force in what the administration has called "GWOT" -- the Global War on Terrorism.

The U.S. government has increased annual Pentagon spending by about $150 billion since September 2001. This dwarfs the increase in spending for other departments such as Homeland Security, Justice, State and CIA that are, if anything, more critical to defeating terrorism as it has mutated.

Much of the increase in defense spending since 9-11, including for the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, is justified by the military services as essential for GWOT. The Pentagon's latest official National Defense and National Military Strategies treat counter-terrorism as the most important mission of the U.S. military. However, a clear-eyed analysis of Islamist-extremist terrorism reveals that, for the most part, traditional military forces are ill-suited to meeting the threat that now exists diffused, fluid and embedded in societies of the Middle East and, increasingly, the West.

True, U.S. military forces were responsible for the initial successes against al-Qaida and its Taliban hosts in Afghanistan. However, since the 2002 showdown at Tora Bora, al-Qaida has become less centralized and hierarchical and, making it largely invulnerable to the ground, air and naval forces that make up the bulk of the U.S. military. As for Iraq, the large U.S. force there is better suited for grinding down the Saddamist-Sunni insurgency than for preventing suicide bombings and other acts of Islamic extremist terrorism. Terrorism in Iraq is increasing, not decreasing, despite the huge U.S. military presence and the growth in Iraqi military forces.

It is exceedingly difficult to identify, locate and track terrorists living within Middle Eastern and Western populations. The terrorists are no fools: They will not mass again to be blasted by our aircraft. Finding them and preventing suicide attacks depends chiefly on undercover work by police, intelligence agents, infiltrators and informants, not on military forces. Moreover, growing numbers of terrorists are in countries the United States is not about to invade or bomb.

Although all military forces have not become irrelevant to the fight against global terrorism, we must shift our attention and resources to those forces that match up with the threat. Terrorists like those in al-Qaida are patient, street-smart, elusive and indistinguishable from innocent civilians. Catching them demands a special package of speed, inconspicuousness, daring, opportunism, fast decision-making and learning in action.

There are, of course, forces with such qualities: special operations forces, mainly Army Rangers and Navy SEALS. They are stealthy, enterprising, able to operate in small units and deep in hostile territory, able to work closely with intelligence sources and versatile.

However, these forces have gotten almost none of the Pentagon's huge post-9-11 build-up. After jumping from about $5 billion to $7 billion in funding in 2002, annual SOF funding has settled back to about $6.5 billion. That means that only 1.5 percent of defense spending is going into the military forces that are best at taking on the terrorists.

True, SOF are inherently cheap; but that does not explain why their share of defense spending has actually dropped since their success in Afghanistan.

Clearly, we should make improving our special operations forces the focus of military investment in the next phase of the fight against global terrorism. The government should use the opportunity presented by the declining relevance of traditional military forces in this fight to take a look at the disparity in resources dedicated to the Pentagon compared to what it is providing to State, Homeland Security, Justice Department and the CIA. The U.S. military has many other requirements that justify public resources; but let's not confuse them with the fight with terrorism.

Al-Qaida has changed; We must change too, if we are to see real progress in the struggle against global terrorism by the next anniversary of 9-11.

David Gompert is distinguished research fellow at National Defense University's Center for Technology and National Security Policy. He was senior adviser for national security and defense to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq from 2003-04.